Do you own a quilt? Not everyone does, but most Americans have at least seem some quilts in person, and know what they look like. But there are some misconceptions about quilts, and making them is a skill-intensive process indeed. Making custom quilts, custom tee shirt quilts, and memory quilt patterns requires plenty of materials, skill, and time, so it is more common for people to order quilts than to make such things themselves. A quilt can be either used as a blanket, or hung up as a decoration and display item. How large is the quilting industry today, and what goes into making custom tee shirt quilts? Handmade quilts can be quite charming additions to the home, after all, including custom tee shirt quilts.
On Quilting
The very idea of quilting is an old one, and quilts were stitched in ancient China and Egypt. Then, as with now, quilts were made with three layers: top, backing, and batting in between, for warmth, with stitching to hold all of this together. The oldest surviving quilt, meanwhile, is the Tristan Quilt, made sometime between 1360 and 1400.
What about modern quilting? There are formal organizations for quilting in the United States and Canada today, and the Canadian Quilters’ Association was formed n 1981. It now as 20,000 members or so, who also hold regular conferences dedicated to this craft. meanwhile, surveys in the United States show that as of 2014, there are some 21 million active quilters at work, and around 14% of all households include at least one quilter. Among these quilters, around 81% of them use the traditional methods, 38% are known to perform art quilting, and 35 make use of modern quilting styles (a quilter can use more than one style). A hobby like this requires dedication, and on average, a quilter has around $13,000 worth of tools and supplies on hand. Such a quilter may also have $6,000 or so in fabrics for quilting, and will most likely have a dedicated room in the house for making quilts. Many of these quilters may accept commissions to make bereavement quilts, custom tee shirt quilts, and more.
Ordering a Quilt
It is clear that making a fully formed quilt takes some serious work, and the average American won’t have the right skills or materials to do it. So, instead, they can place an order and ask a skilled quilter to handle the sewing and other work. The customer can submit any fabrics that they want to have involved with the quilt, not to mention specify the final product’s desired dimensions and features. For example, a person can commemorate their college days by submitting their used T-shirts, jackets, and other unused clothing to the quilter. That quilter can use the fabric to help make the surface of the quilt, and so, the quilt as a decorative tribute to that phase of the customer’s life. The same thing can be done for other themes, too, so long as appropriate fabric from clothing or bedding or any other source can be used.
Such a quilt can be used as a blanket if desired, and used as a bed comforter, too. In other cases, such as for a bereavement quilt or some other sentimental quilt, the customer may hang it on a rack for all to see, or pin it to the wall or even frame it on the wall to show off. Such quilts can even become family heirlooms, too, since they are well-crafted, unique, and appealing to look at.
